Assessing cash management and financial performance for private universities in Uganda. A case study of Kampala University

Abstract

The major aim of this study was to empirically assesses the effectiveness of cash management on financial performance for private universities in Uganda. A case study of Kampala university. The study used primary data collected by the researcher from the staff and management of Kampala university. The data was collected using a structured questionnaire self-administered 70 respondents from which only 63 questionnaires were returned by respondents. The researcher generated various statistics such as frequency, percentages and regression analysis models using SPSS Version II. The objectives of the study were; to assess the effect of cash planning on the financial performance; to examine the effect of controlling disbursements on the financial performance and to examine the effect of cash budgeting on the financial performance of selected private Universities in Uganda. The dimension of the dependent variable of the study is the extent of Financial Performance including Timely collection of tuition fees, Liquidity and Profitability in the selected Private Universities in Uganda. The independent variable on the other hand was cash management under which we analysed cash budgeting, cash controls and cash planning. The researcher found it necessary to obtain the bio data of the respondents and demographic characteristics in terms of academic qualifications, sex of the respondent, position held at the university and years of experience. This information was to mainly determine the ability of the respondent to offer reliable information that would help the researcher to understand the respondents. The findings showed that from the gender covered, the majority of the respondents, 38 were females with 60.3 percent of the respondents as opposed to males who were 25 with 39.7 percent. This was rated most important as it revealed that gender biasness was insignificant to cause poor financial performance. The researcher also correlated the responsibility of the employees with financial performance and observed that the majority of respondents, 28 of them were accountants with 44.4 percent and Faculty Deans were the minority with only 08 respondents being 12.7 percent representation. Their qualifications were also correlated with financial performance in Kampala University and the researcher observed that the majority of respondents, 20 were bachelor’s degree holders with 31.8 percent, 16 of them were masters holders with 25.4 percent, 12 of them were PhD degree holders with 19.1 percent, 08 of them were post graduate holders with a percentage of 15.2 and the least were others with only 2 respondents and a percentage of 3.2 and 05 diploma holders with 7.9 percent representation. Finally, was their years of experience were most of the respondents amounting to 32 had worked for 6 years and above with a percentage of 50.8, 19 of them had worked for 1-5 years with a percentage of 30.2 and 12 of them had worked for less than one year with a percentage of 19.1. These were established by frequencies and percentages. The study revealed very critical areas of focus which they had thought were not important for the improvement of the University’s Financial Performance. The findings implied that the respondents held positions in higher offices and we’re not limited by qualifications to attain higher offices. Furthermore, that they had worked long enough at their workstations to help them execute their duties satisfactorily and hence had adequate knowledge about the organization. Basing on the above findings of the study, the researcher recommends that the private Universities in Uganda re-evaluate their cash management controls disbursements, planning and budgeting and encourage collaborative, shared governance and ownership by all role-players in the universities, the government should also put in place better regulation, practices, and accountability measures of private universities, each programme should be set up with financial viability in mind, they need to resolve the funding issues if they are to contribute to the sector. The researcher also recommends that further research could be carried out on “the impact of Cash management on Financial Performance in public universities in Uganda” and “Cash management and Financial Performance of Manufacturing Companies in Uganda”.